To upgrade or not to upgrade [now]?

[point4life]

I'm debating on whether to upgrade my lackluster PC now or later (next spring or summer). Upgrading now leaves me a $500 budget, but upgrading later would significantly increase the budget. I use my PC for music, games, and the like.

Right now, my current rig barely meets the minimum requirements of most new games. Thus, an immediate upgrade would let me fully enjoy such upcoming games as Splinter Cell, Unreal 2, and Metal Gear Solid 2. Upgrading later will not be all that great as I will probably exhaust these games on either my current rig or my sister's PC, both of which would suck.

==============================================
Here are more arguments:

YES
- Games (Splinter Cell, Unreal 2002, and MGS2) run or will run dog ass slow; my rig barely meets these games' min. requirements
- Upgrade will at least carry through the start of college
- cpu/mobo/mem are almost 2.5 years old; video card is more than 1.5 years old; burner is 3 years old
- may be too busy during summer and college to catch up w/ games if i build a better PC later

NO
- Schoolwork and lacrosse will occupy me for the rest of the school year
- It would be a half-assed up upgrade (no next generation video card or premium sound card)
- Can use sister's PC in the meantime
- May feel unsatisfied w/ rig when college starts (8 month old rig)
==============================================

I'm definitely overanalyzing this, but the question is, "To upgrade or not to upgrade [now]?" If you choose the former, keeping the $500 budget in mind, what components would you pick?

Here's what I have in mind:
Athlon XP 2100+ $100
Abit KD7 KT400 $93
512mb DDR333 $127
GF4 Ti4200 $117
LiteOn 48/24/48 $57
Total $497

 

[DaveSimmons]

NO:
- You won't notice much difference between the gf3 and ti4200 unless you plan to overclock it heavily.
- Since Unreal 2 and MGS2 don't exist yet you're paying now to play games that might be released months late and might be lousy
- Your rig is fine for almost every game that's out now, you could spend $50 in the bargain bins or in FS/FT forum and play some great existing games that you missed when they came out. Need ideas? Post in the Software fourm.

 

[TheWart]

Wait. Your proposed upgrade will ust make the specs for the new games just now coming out (Splinter Cell). You need a better video card, such as a Radeon 9500 that o/cs well for around ~$180. Also ditch the KT400 and get an Nforce2. But by this summer you will have way more options anyway. Don't give in to the Christmas bug, all the hardware ALWAYS goes down, especially after Christmas.

 

[ai42]

I'd say just snag yourself a Radeon 9500/9700. That should hold you over for another 6 months or so when the new P4/Hammer stuff is out.

 

[CrazySaint]

Originally posted by: ai42
I'd say just snag yourself a Radeon 9500/9700. That should hold you over for another 6 months or so when the new P4/Hammer stuff is out.

A Radeon 9500/9700 won't be any faster than his gF3 on an 800MHz CPU.

Your video card is still pretty decent for now, here's my suggestion:
ECS K7S5A
Athlon XP 1600+

Total upgrade should cost you a bit over $100 and you can still use your current RAM. Just this CPU upgrade will net you a considerable boost in gaming and you can probably OC that gF3 a bit. This intermediate upgrade should hold you pretty well until you can afford to do the upgrade right.

 

[joecool]

Originally posted by: CrazySaint

Originally posted by: ai42
I'd say just snag yourself a Radeon 9500/9700. That should hold you over for another 6 months or so when the new P4/Hammer stuff is out.

A Radeon 9500/9700 won't be any faster than his gF3 on an 800MHz CPU.

Your video card is still pretty decent for now, here's my suggestion:
ECS K7S5A
Athlon XP 1600+

Total upgrade should cost you a bit over $100 and you can still use your current RAM. Just this CPU upgrade will net you a considerable boost in gaming and you can probably OC that gF3 a bit. This intermediate upgrade should hold you pretty well until you can afford to do the upgrade right.

i totally concur with this suggestion. i have the ecs board and really love it. it's a great deal for the price. next spring when you get more $ you can just go get a tbred 2400+ and some faster ram, and maybe upgrade the video card (i can't wait 'til the nv30 comes out - 9700 prices are guaranteed to drop!!!).

good luck ...

joe

 

[CurtCold]

Originally posted by: joecool

Originally posted by: CrazySaint

Originally posted by: ai42
I'd say just snag yourself a Radeon 9500/9700. That should hold you over for another 6 months or so when the new P4/Hammer stuff is out.

A Radeon 9500/9700 won't be any faster than his gF3 on an 800MHz CPU.

Your video card is still pretty decent for now, here's my suggestion:
ECS K7S5A
Athlon XP 1600+

Total upgrade should cost you a bit over $100 and you can still use your current RAM. Just this CPU upgrade will net you a considerable boost in gaming and you can probably OC that gF3 a bit. This intermediate upgrade should hold you pretty well until you can afford to do the upgrade right.

i totally concur with this suggestion. i have the ecs board and really love it. it's a great deal for the price. next spring when you get more $ you can just go get a tbred 2400+ and some faster ram, and maybe upgrade the video card (i can't wait 'til the nv30 comes out - 9700 prices are guaranteed to drop!!!).

good luck ...

joe

Bwwaaahahahahahah....Yeah and I've had people try to tell me that CPU speed doesn't matter, as long as the video card is top of the line....lol

 

[point4life]

I'm liking the cheapo upgrade idea, but my two current 128MB PC133 DIMMs would take up both SDRAM DIMM slots on that ECS mobo. I would like 512MB of memory, even if it's slow PC133. As such, I'm thinking of a KT133A mobo, and the cheapest decent one I can find is the GA-7ZXE, which supports speeds up to 2600+ (thoroughbred) and has the 266MHz FSB. Coincidentally my current mobo is a GA-7ZX, which only supports palaminos (2100+) and has the 200MHz FSB. Is it worth spending $52 on the mobo just to support a 1700+ thoroughbred w/ 266MHz FSB? Otherwise I could save the money, get a 1600+ palamino, and run it on the 200MHz FSB. Also, is the memory upgrade worth $30?

Considering the following:

A03454 1 AMD ATHLON XP 1700+ 1.47GHZ (AXDA1700BOX) RETAIL BOXED W/COOLING FAN (3 YEARS WARRANTY) | Important Installation Info $59.00 $59.00
033452 1 KINGSTON KVR133X64C3/256 PC133 256MB CL3 SDRAM DIMM Detail Specs $31.83 $31.83
A14701 1 GIGABYTE GA-7ZXE VIA KT133A CHIPSET ULTRA ATA100 ATX FORM FACTOR 1xAGP(4X)/5xPCI/3xDIMM W/ AC97 AUDIO Detail Specs (CPU TYPE:AMD DURON, ATHLON) $51.94 $51.94
Sub Total $142.77
S&H (Ground - Approx. 5-6 business days) APPROXIMATELY 4-5 Business days for delivery $11.01

Grand Total $153.78

 

[novice]

Don't go for a KT133a motherboard. Get at least a KT333 board, so that you can upgrade to future CPU's and have the ability to use DDR ram, I also am a fan of the "cheap" upgrade. Maybe a MSI KT3 Ultra2 ($77), XP2000+ ($91 shipped retail box w/hsf) and a 256 mb stick of PC2100 ram which you should be able to find for around $45 or so after mail in rebate. I have picked up both Crucial and Kingston for that price. Use you Geforce 3 until Nvidia releases their newest monster card, then consider picking up much less expensive (by then) Radeon 9500 Pro or 9700, or possibly a Geforce 4 Ti4600. Hopefully, they will all fall down to the $150 or so price range by the time the NV 30 card hits retail. At that point in time, you could also consider upgrading your ram and other peripherals, depending on your budget. I just received my KT 3 Ultra 2 and XP2000+ retail CPU today to upgrade my old Celeron 900@1.08 system. Also snagged a Crucial 256 mb stick of PC2100 ram for $39.95 after rebate from Bestbuy. At least that's what I did! My Geforce 3 ti200 will have to do until those prices drop enough on cards that would make a noticeable difference.

 

[Wuzup101]

I say wait until right before college when you have more money. Don't bother doing a half assed job right now when you know you could have a nice rig to take to college in 8 months. Besides you're going to be kicking yourself next sept if you upgrade now and then want to upgrade again.

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: ai42
I'd say just snag yourself a Radeon 9500/9700. That should hold you over for another 6 months or so when the new P4/Hammer stuff is out.

That and another 256 PC133

256 in total is just not enough... I honestly think that's the reason these games are running slow.
with UT2003 my friend upped his memory to 512 and performance increased drastically.

I'd say get the Ti4200 and a stick of 256MB RAM.